Council clears cell phone tower

195-foot monopole to be erected north of Turner Drive near Toll Road.

195-foot monopole to be erected north of Turner Drive near Toll Road.

November 15, 2006|JAMES WENSITS Tribune Political Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Improved cell phone communication in a broad area of northern St. Joseph County is expected to be a benefit of a new cell phone tower unanimously approved by the County Council Tuesday. The council approved a petition by Horvath Communications Inc. to erect a 195-foot monopole tower on the north side of Turner Drive, adjacent to the Indiana Toll Road and east of Ironwood Road. The land is already zoned for commercial use. The tower will initially carry antennae for two cell phone companies, Sprint and T Mobile, but will have room for two more. It will also provide space for emergency communications equipment, according to John Falvey, attorney for Horvath Communications. Sprint representative Dave Kiechle, a network design engineer for iPCS, Kentwood, Mich., said the new towers will allow the company to fill holes in its coverage area. Jordan Rifkin, traffic engineer for T Mobile, also told the council that the Cleveland-Ironwood area represented a coverage hole for his company. Falvey told The Tribune that the new tower won't satisfy all Granger area needs because the signal won't reach far enough. However, Kiechle said the new tower will permit antennae on other area towers to be repositioned enough to improve Sprint service in some Granger areas. The new tower is also expected to improve service in the area surrounding the tower in other directions as far away as the Grape Road business area and perhaps as far as the northeast corner of the University of Notre Dame campus. In other action, the council approved the final site plan for a methane gas recovery facility at the Prairie View Landfill.